Tom Ricketts
From BR Bullpen
Thomas S. Ricketts
- School University of Chicago
[edit] Biographical Information
Tom Ricketts is the chairman (owner) of the Chicago Cubs, having purchsed the team from the Tribune Company through a family trust in 2009.
Ricketts grew up in Omaha, NE, the son of the founder of Ameritrade Corporation, a brokerage firm. He obtained an undergraduate degree and an MBA from the University of Chicago, and as he explains, spent a lot of time in the Wrigley Field bleachers while in college cheering on the Cubs, particularly when they conquered a surprise NL East title in 1989. He once wrote an essay in college describing his future dream job as owner of the Cubs.
After graduation, Ricketts found success in the financial sector, founding the securities and investment banking company Incapital LLC, and on the Chicago Exchange, before he went on to occupy a senior executive position in his father's company, which had by then become the largest on-line brokerage firm in the United States. In 2008, when the Chicago Cubs were put on sale by the Chicago Tribune, he put together a bid in trust with his siblings Peter, Tom, Laura and Todd. The sale was caused by the sale of the Tribune Corporation to Peter Zell, who saw the Cubs as an asset to be cashed in, in order to raise funds to stave the newspaper from bankruptcy. The Ricketts' $845 million bid was accepted in January 2009, but it took until October 31, 2009 for Major League Baseball to ratify the change of ownership, due to the complexity of the deal, which also included Wrigley Field and the cable television network "Comcast Sportsnet Chicago". The Tribune retained a 5% ownership stake as part of the deal.
One of Ricketts' first moves as Cubs owner was to order $10 million in renovations to Wrigley Field, completed in time for the team's 2010 home opener. After the 2011 season, he shook up the Cubs' front office, hiring Theo Epstein away from the Boston Red Sox to be the new team President, and then prying GM Jed Hoyer from the San Diego Padres, paying compensation to both teams as the two men were under contract with their employers for another year.
Tom's youngest brother, Todd, participated in the CBS reality television show Undercover Boss in a program aired on November 7, 2010. Using the alias "Mark Dawson", he was hired as a member of the Wrigley Field ground crew and had to sell hot dogs, clean up bathrooms, set up the tarpaulin and operate the park's manual scoreboard as part of his stint as an employee.
